Will We Ever Be?
by Maceus
Summary: Launch tries to express her feelings to Tien, but her alter-ego gets in the way. Will they ever be together? R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own DB or DBZ, but I'm currently working on collecting the dragonballs so that I do :~)**

**Author's Note: I have not taken anything said or done in Dragon Ball Z into account. This story takes place sometime after the last episode of Dragon Ball, but Dragon Ball Z doesn't take place after the story, for if it did, it would mess up the whole story line. So while you're reading this, pretend that Dragon Ball Z doesn't exist.**

Launch stood with her back up against the wall, facing a door. One of them was going to have to do it at some point, so why not her, and why not now?

Launch could feel sweat begin on the forehead. She wiped it off. She couldn't be sweating when she did this, no matter how nervous she was.

"_Launch,"_ said a hushed voice to her left.

It was Bulma, returning from the bathroom to go to bed. She looked at Launch, then the door, then back at Launch. She gave her a thumbs-up and a wink, then slipped into her room.

Launch felt sick. She sighed, lifting her fist to the door to knock. "There's no turning back now," she said to herself.

She knocked three times on the door, then waited for a reply.

"Come in," said a deep voice from the other side of the door.

Launch grabbed for the handle but her hand slipped off. She wiped her palms on her jeans and tried again. The door opened with a quiet creak.

"Hey," said Launch, poking her head in.

Tien looked surprised. He swallowed hard. "Hey."

Launch walked inside, maybe a little too quickly. She caught herself, then looked at Tien and gritted her teeth.

_Doesn't he own a shirt?_ thought Launch, who quickly looked down. _He's just making it that much more difficult._

Tien cleared his throat. "What's up?"

Launch kept her eyes down. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure."

Not knowing what to do, Launch sat down next to Tien on his bed, which was a huge mistake. She could feel his body heat radiating off of his skin, and it carried a scent that made Launch dizzy. She clenched her fists at her sides.

_Sure, I can pull out a gun and clear a crowd no problem. But talk to Tien? Impossible._

_This isn't fair. _Launch thought. _It was so easy for Chi Chi, and Bulma, too. The boys just came right out within ten days of meeting each other. _Of course _it can't be that easy for me. I have to do everything myself._

It took a lot of willpower for Launch to speak with Tien so close. She just concentrated on breathing and forming words. "Tien, I-"

Just then a gust of wind blew in from Tien's open window, tickling Launch's nose.

_No! Not now!_

But it was too late. Launch sneezed, and her hair and eyes changed color.

"Where-Where am I?" black-haired Launch asked. She looked around her and realized that she was in Tien's room. "What am I doing here?"

Tien improvised. This version of Launch could be fooled so easily. "You needed a pair of socks." Tien went to his closet and brought out a pair of his socks. "You said that you need them to keep warm during the night. Something about sea breezes…"

Launch accepted them with blank eyes. "Thanks, Tien."

"No problem."

And she left.

**R&R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own DB**

The next morning came around, and Launch had sneezed again, so blond Launch was back. She came down the stairs to breakfast with the usual grim expression on her face. Bulma was waiting at the base of the stairs for her.

"So? How'd it go?" Bulma asked eagerly.

Launch exploded. "I sneezed, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? Dumbnuts came out and ruined the whole thing for me!"

Bulma felt terrible. "Launch, I'm so-"

"Why can't it be as easy for me and Tien as it was for you and Yamcha? Or Goku and Chi Chi? You and Yamcha were basically together from the moment you met each other, and Goku proposed to Chi Chi within ten minutes of seeing her!"

Bulma was taken by surprise. Everybody knew that Launch liked Tien, but she had never talked openly about it, in fact, she denied it and pulled out a gun every time somebody tried to squeeze something out of her. Tien had a stone face, and hardly ever gave a clue that he loved Launch, but once in a while the members of the Kame House could catch Tien's face turning red when somebody mentioned Launch's name. However, neither of them had the guts to say anything, except for last night, and we saw how well that turned out.

"I know that it will never work between me and Tien. He doesn't seem to want to start anything with me, anyway. It's like the only thing that matters to him is his training. Maybe I should just give up. Move to West City and get a job at a tattoo parlor or something. Maybe I'll purposely stay in my other form, so that I don't have to worry about it anymore." Launch muttered. Suddenly Launch turned on Bulma. "Why am I even talking to you? There are no secrets in this house. Everyone will know by the end of breakfast!"

Launch stormed off, leaving a very confused and guilty-feeling Bulma behind.

Krillin, Roshi, and Goku were already at the breakfast table when Launch walked in.

"Launch! You came just in time!" Krillin greeted her, happy and smiling as always.

"Good, I'm starving!" she sat down and began to eat her eggs.

Launch heard light footsteps, and Bulma walked in, followed by Yamcha, Chiaotzu, and none other than Tien Shinhan. They all sat down and began to eat a much needed breakfast.

Launch suddenly dropped her fork. "I'm actually not that hungry.," she muttered. She pushed away her plate and marched away from the table, almost knocking over Oolong and Puar as they entered the kitchen/dining room. Everyone stared after her.

"What's wrong with Launch?" Yamcha asked.

Bulma and Tien kept their heads down.

Yamcha saw Bulma and Tien's response to his question. "Guess I don't want to know."

Launch went straight up to her room, slamming the door behind her.

"I hate this!" she half-yelled. "I hate this! I hate this!" Launch was fuming. "He's probably glad that it turned out as a complete disaster. I can't just leave every time that he walks into a room! But I also can't sit there like an idiot while Tien carries on as if nothing happened. But…"

Launch looked over to her dresser, a vase of flowers was on it, put there by her other self.

"Dumbnuts _can _carry on like nothing happened! Because nothing _did _happen to her!"

She walked over to the flowers, picking the one that looked the most fragrant. She had never made herself sneeze before on purpose, but now was as good a time as any.

As she lifted the flower to her nose, she shivered. She couldn't help thinking that this was a little like suicide. Sure, she wasn't killing herself, she could still come back. It wasn't like she was permanently leaving this world, she was just taking a vacation for a while.

Before she could turn back, she took the deepest breath that she could from the flower. The back of her nose tickled, and…

**R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Launch really seems to be in the dumps," said Oolong, brushing himself off. "I sure am glad that we took all her guns away."

Everybody nodded in agreement.

"Hey, Tien, maybe you should talk to her." said Krillin. "You're probably the only person that she would listen to right now. Figure out what's wrong and try to make her feel better."

"Yeah," said Oolong, smirking. "A couple of good smooches should make her feel a lot better."

Bulma punched him.

"No, I don't think that I would make her feel any better," Tien said. "I think that Bulma should go talk to her. She's a girl, after all."

"Thank you very much for noticing," Bulma said with a glare. "But I agree with Krillin. You should talk to her." she gave him a glance that said, _So, you can take on big monsters that can kill you with one punch, but you can't talk to a girl that you've known for a year? Wow, you're pathetic._

Tien swallowed hard, gritting his teeth. He got up and slowly made his way up the stairs. When he got to the top he turned left, down the girls' hallway. When he reached Launch's door, he knocked. While he waited for Launch to respond, he had half a mind to turn on his heels and run, but Launch opened the door before he could. Except, it wasn't Launch, at least, not the Launch he was expecting.

"Oh, hello, Tien." said not-so-Launch. "Did you come to get your socks back?"

Tien couldn't talk.

"One second," she disappeared for a moment and came back with Tien's socks. "Here you go! Thank you!"

She handed the socks to Tien then shut the door in his face.

Tien was too stunned to move for a second. He didn't know what to do. Run, like he had almost done to begin with, or knock again.

Mustering up all the strength that he had, he painstakingly raised his fist and knocked.

Launch opened the door, a confused expression on her face. "Hello again! Did I give you the wrong socks?"

Tien hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, then pushed by her. He looked around her room and spotted a vase of flowers on her dresser.

"What are you doing, Tien?" asked dark-haired-Launch.

Tien felt like he was going to be sick. Not believing what he was doing, he pick up one of the flowers and turned back to face her.

"This flower smells great," Tien said, taking a sniff. "Why don't you smell it?"

Launch shook her head violently. "If I do, I'll sneeze and become a monster!"

"Don't talk about her like that!" Tien shouted. He grabbed Launch's right shoulder and put the flower close to her nose. Launch struggled, but she was no match for Tien's muscular arms. Tien tickled the end of her nose with one of the flower's petals. Launch sneezed, and her black hair instantly turned to blonde, her blue eyes to green.

Although she wouldn't want to admit it, Launch had always imagined and daydreamed about what it would be like to wake up to Tien's face, but not like this. She struggled against his strong hands, but he had gotten hold of both of her shoulders.

"Can't we just talk this out?" Tien asked, not letting go of Launch's shoulders. He tried to press down the feeling that he got from touching Launch's skin and focus on the more pressing issue.

Launch's green eyes showed a mix of fury and sadness "I already know what you're going to say: 'Leave me alone, creep. I only like martial arts, not stupid transforming bipolar girls.' I get it, I wont bother you anymore."

Tien was taken so aback that his grip on Launch's shoulders slackened. Launch broke lose, turning around, hiding her face from Tien.

Tien's heart sunk through the floor. What had he done to make Launch think that? Was it his shyness? How he didn't know what to say or do around her? He couldn't bear the thought that he was the cause of Launch being upset.

He had to do something. He had to prove it to her…

Tien did the gutsiest thing that he could possibly do. It took more courage than when he tried the Evil Containment Wave on King Piccolo. But for that he had plenty of time to prepare. For this, he had to gather up all his courage in an extremely short amount of time. This wasn't like martial arts, you couldn't train for it, you couldn't say that you would get it right tomorrow. For this, you had to just do it, or die.

Tien grabbed Launch's arm, spun her around, pulled her close, and kissed her.

All thoughts abruptly left them. All of their worries had gone, and they didn't seem to be coming back. The only thing that mattered was that they were finally each other's, and now nothing could possibly get in their way.

"Does this clear it up for you?" Tien whispered in Launch's ear.

Launch hugged Tien tightly. She had never been so happy in all her life. She whispered the only thing that mattered to her. "Tien."

A light tremor ran through Tien's body. He shook his head disbelievingly. "I can stand tall and strong against monsters like Piccolo, but against you I'm completely defenseless."

"As it should be." Launch laughed.

Tien wrapped his arms around Launch and didn't let go.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: In case you haven't noticed, my name isn't Akira Toriyama, so I don't own dragon ball.**

Later that day, Tien came back down the stairs by himself. Everybody looked at him with the same question played out across their faces.

Tien struggled to seem casual when his emotions were so high. He shrugged. "She's fine. She'll be down in a minute."

"When are we going to start training for today, Tien?" Chiaotzu asked.

"Whenever the rest of you want to." he replied.

Chiaotzu stared at him blankly. Tien had failed at seeming like his normal self. He normally said "right away" or "soon." He never left it up to the others to decide. Everybody had the same response as Chiaotzu, staring at him disbelievingly.

Tien looked around at his peers. "What?"

Goku cleared his throat. "After lunch sounds good to me. I'm starving!"

Krillin and Yamcha nodded in agreement, but very slowly, as if dazed by Tien's sudden compliancy.

"Great, so whose making it?" said a voice from the hallway.

Tien's heart gave a singular, hard pound against his chest. He tried to calm himself, but he could feel his cheeks heating up.

Launch walked in, flopping down in one of the chairs. She was trying to seem like her normal self, casual and non-caring, but everyone could notice a difference in the way that she held her face.

"I will," said Chi Chi. "No problem."

"Thanks, Chi Chi," said Goku, smiling at her. "I'll help."

They walked out, hand in hand. Bulma shook her head. "I can't believe that the little boy that I met in the woods is _married._"

"I know what you mean," said Yamcha.

"No kidding," said Krillin.

"I never expected Goku to ever even have a girlfriend. He's too devoted to martial arts." Yamcha laughed.

"Well you're one to talk, Yamcha," said Bulma, "if I remember correctly, the first time that I met you, you couldn't even _look _at me without turning red."

Yamcha laughed from embarrassment.

"Your's is the sappiest story that I've ever heard of," said Launch. "Bulma was going to wish for the perfect boyfriend, and Yamcha was going to wish to have enough guts to even talk to Bulma. So romantic how that turned out," she said sarcastically.

They both turned red.

"That's why I just stay out of relationships," Krillin said, leaning back with a smug expression on his face. "You guys have nothing to tease me about."

"But Krillin," Chiaotzu protested. "You flirt with every girl you meet."

"Shut up," Krillin growled.

Everybody laughed.

"If you guys are done being all mushy and turning red," said Roshi from the hallway, "I think that Goku and Chi Chi are done with lunch."

They ate the majority of lunch in silence, until Chi Chi spoke out. "You okay now, Launch?"

Launch nodded, sending a quick glance at Tien that only he caught..

Oolong seized his opportunity. Bulma was on the other end of the table, out of hitting range. "So did you do what I said to?" he said out of the side of his mouth to Tien, but everybody was able to hear him.

Tien's cheeks were burning. He shifted uncomfortably. He never lied, but he also couldn't just not respond, for then he would never hear the end of it. But he didn't really do what Oolong told him to. He did it to prove that he really did love Launch, not just "cheer her up."

Tien had hesitated too long. Everybody gasped with delight.

"Launch!" exclaimed Bulma, throwing her arms around her neck.

"Whoa, whoa!" Launch gasped, prying Bulma's arms off.

"I'm so happy for you guys!" Bulma said.

"Did I miss something?" asked Chi Chi. She hadn't been there at breakfast.

Goku laughed with delight. "Tien and Launch are finally together!"

Everyone burst with excitement as Tien and Launch's faces turned red.

"I'm proud to announce that I was the very first person to ever make them both blush!" Oolong announced, throwing his hands into the air. "You guys remember?"

Roshi scowled. _Why do all the boys get girls but me?_

Krillin was thinking the exact same thing.

Roshi shook his head. "My house is turning into a match-making society."

Bulma suddenly jumped up and snapped her fingers. "I know what we should do!"

Everyone stopped their chorus of congratulations and turned their attention to Bulma.

"You guys are going to love it!" Bulma said with stars in her eyes.

They gave her doubtful looks.

"Trust me!"

Their looks grew even more doubtful.

"Chi Chi, I'm going to need your help." Bulma said.

Chi Chi cautiously nodded. Bulma came around the table and whispered in her ear. Chi Chi suddenly got really excited, literally jumping in her seat. As Bulma continued to whisper, Chi Chi grew more excited, staring at each of the boys in turn.

"I'm really beginning to fear for my life," Krillin said, scooting his chair away from the girls.

Chi Chi and Bulma laughed.

**R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Hey guys, guess what? I DON'T OWN DRAGON BALL!**

The next few days that passed were pretty uneventful. The boys continued to train. Every day they would run a little faster, swim a little farther, and get a little stronger. The outcome of their dedication was amazing. They were now able to jump higher than airplanes, move the largest boulders, and move faster than the speed of sound. Chi Chi and Bulma spent most of their time indoors, large papers and magazines in front of them. Launch tried numerous times to peer over their shoulders, but they would shoo her away before she could really see anything. On one attempt, however, she uncovered a date: the twelfth of August.

It was easier now on Tien and Launch since they knew that their feelings for each other were mutual, and also that everybody else in the Kame House knew about them. Since the number of couples in the Kame House had now reached three, red faces around the dinner table were a guarantee.

"Jeez," Roshi one night. "At the rate that we're going, Oolong and Puar will be caught together as birds on the roof."

They both coughed up the food that they had had in their mouths.

"I could have gone my whole life with out that picture in my head," said Bulma, suddenly losing her appetite.

"ISN'T THERE ANY GIRL OUT THERE WHO WILL GO ON A DATE WITH ME?" Roshi suddenly exploded, pounding the table and making many dishes turn over.

"Calm down, Master, I'm in the same situation as you," said Krillin.

Chi Chi and Bulma giggled.

"WHAT'S SO FUNNY?" Roshi asked.

"Just you boys wait," Chi Chi and Bulma said together.

"I don't know, Roshi," Launch said. "Maybe Dumbnuts would take a chance with you. Although I'd hate to think that my alter-ego was dating an old man."

Everybody laughed except Roshi, who was literally steaming at the ears.

"Make all the jokes you want! I'm going to bed!" Roshi said as he stormed off.

The night before August twelfth, Tien and Launch sat on the beach, watching the sun go down.

"You're not going to leave me for three whole years like you did before the last Martial Arts Tournament, are you?" Launch asked, playing with a stick in the sand.

Tien sighed. "Those three years were the most painful of my life. The major reason why I trained so hard was because I thought that it would take my mind off of you. I thought that I had to go away and train twenty-four seven in order to be any good against Goku. I realize now that it was a huge mistake for me to leave before settling things with you."

"Nah, it would have been just as difficult to know that you're finally mine and then you leave for three years. Plus, I would have just interfered with your training."

"You mean more to me than martial arts, Launch," Tien said, clasping Launch's hand.

Tien sighed again. "I thought that it would have been easier for me to touch you after all this time, but I see that I'm still just a lovesick puppy."

"If you're a lovesick puppy, then I must be a wolf." Launch said. "I never expected you to be able to talk like that. Especially not to me." Launch put her stick down and looked Tien in the eye. "You know, I used to be as tough as leather. I had no weak spot whatsoever, well, except for Dumbnuts. But that all changed when Tien Shinhan decided to leave his old ways and join us. I fell, and I fell hard. And then I realized that I was no longer so tough."

Launch shook her head. "God. I sound like some kind of soap opera or something."

Tien laughed. "My story isn't any different than yours. I used to have nothing to lose. I had walked away from my old life. I had no family, no friends. I had Chiaotzu, of course, but he was young and could get over it before long. I was willing to give my life to save the world. I was in a plane heading straight for certain death, when I heard an angel's voice come from the radio. When you begged me to come back with the others I almost did turn back. I finally had something that I passionately cared about, that really mattered. It took everything that I had to keep flying straight.

"After that was over, I went away to train with the others. I had hoped that by the time that I had come back that I had moved on and could focus on my training and becoming stronger than Goku. But when I came back, and I saw you in that dress, it hit me harder that a tidal wave."

"Well, it took you long enough to admit it," Launch teased.

Tien thought for a moment. "What were you going to say that night when you came into my room?"

Launch gulped. She had hoped that he had forgotten about that. "I was going to let it all out. I had had enough of pretending. I was going to lay it all on the table, and if you didn't feel the same way that I did, I would leave and never come back." Launch suddenly clenched her fists, her eyes watering up. "But Dumbnuts got in the way. She goes by my name, but she isn't me at all! She gets in the way of _everything_! Now I'm starting to wonder if you feel for Launch as a whole, not just me."

Tien was appalled. "I have no feelings for her. Only those of hatred for taking my Launch away from me."

Tien lightly ran his hands down Launch's arm. Launch shivered violently. Tien laughed. "I make you nervous!"

"No you don't," Launch protested. Tien put his arm around Launch and pulled her close to him. _Thank God he's wearing a shirt._ Launch thought to herself.

Tien couldn't keep himself from letting out a small shiver of his own. He still hadn't gotten used to being able to be so close to Launch. It was almost dizzying and sent his senses buzzing.

"_I_ make _you_ nervous," Launch said, feeling Tien's shiver.

Tien chuckled. "More than anything."

**R&R!**


End file.
